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Ask HN: What's so great about having two monitors?

1 points by Brewer 15y ago

I've never used two monitors at the same time before, what's so great about it? Also, what's a good way to try working with dual monitors before I go out an drop $200?

rajat 15y ago
When I work, I like to have several editor windows open, and the documentation (usually browser) open. On the first screen is where I have the editor window where I'm actually typing stuff in; on the second screen I have all the reference stuff that I can just glance at.
Uhhrrr 15y ago
If you never have to move a window out of the way in the course of what you're doing, then for you it's indeed not so great. But I think it's pretty common to do this. Also, I've worked on projects where Visual Studio or Eclipse took up the entirety of one screen, and the application in running form took up the entirety of another.
- Brewer 15y ago
  That is indeed a problem I run into quite a bit. I develop on my 15.4" laptop with a max resolution of 1366x768.
pbjorklund 15y ago
Monitor 1: Browser Monitor 2: vim, terminals What I need is actually a Monitor 3 for reference..
Skywing 15y ago
To be honest, it can be tricky. I had a tough time with two monitors, initially. I would always put my irc client and instant messenger clients on the second monitor, along with whatever documentations, editors, etc that i needed. I would distract myself by always glancing over at irc. What I ended up doing to solve this was rotating my "main" monitor vertically, and use it exclusively for my main code editing window. I'd reserve the second window for documentation. I have to maximize both windows otherwise ill just get distracted by the other monitor, again. It takes some getting used to, but I definitely get use out of the second one. Although, I'd be fine with one still. I'm a furious alt-tabber either way. ;)
veyron 15y ago
Cheap way to expand screen real estate. I find myself diffing 3 files a lot. And these files are 80 characters fixed-width. So to have the three window diff in vim means I would need at least 3 * 80 + 2 = 242 character width, and that doesn't fit on most monitors. (Nowadays I use a 27" iMac, which runs 2560x1440 natively, so I really dont need [or use] a second monitor, but the argument still applies)
adelevie 15y ago
Don't buy a second monitor until you feel you need one.
dazzer 15y ago
When you maximise a window, it takes up the entire screen. In the case of multiple monitors, it takes up the entire screen of the current monitor it is currently displayed in. Multiple monitors are therefore a hardware method of window management without having to manually resize them. In Windows 7 you can now dock windows to the left or right. This has worked really well for me on a single 24'' at 1900x1200 resolution. In the past this was not possible out of the box.
bartonfink 15y ago
I prefer having virtual desktops with customizable keyboard shortcuts to multiple monitors.

1 points by Brewer 15y ago

I've never used two monitors at the same time before, what's so great about it? Also, what's a good way to try working with dual monitors before I go out an drop $200?

rajat 15y ago

When I work, I like to have several editor windows open, and the documentation (usually browser) open. On the first screen is where I have the editor window where I'm actually typing stuff in; on the second screen I have all the reference stuff that I can just glance at.

Uhhrrr 15y ago

If you never have to move a window out of the way in the course of what you're doing, then for you it's indeed not so great. But I think it's pretty common to do this. Also, I've worked on projects where Visual Studio or Eclipse took up the entirety of one screen, and the application in running form took up the entirety of another.

Brewer 15y ago
That is indeed a problem I run into quite a bit. I develop on my 15.4" laptop with a max resolution of 1366x768.

pbjorklund 15y ago

Monitor 1: Browser Monitor 2: vim, terminals What I need is actually a Monitor 3 for reference..

Skywing 15y ago

To be honest, it can be tricky. I had a tough time with two monitors, initially. I would always put my irc client and instant messenger clients on the second monitor, along with whatever documentations, editors, etc that i needed. I would distract myself by always glancing over at irc. What I ended up doing to solve this was rotating my "main" monitor vertically, and use it exclusively for my main code editing window. I'd reserve the second window for documentation. I have to maximize both windows otherwise ill just get distracted by the other monitor, again. It takes some getting used to, but I definitely get use out of the second one. Although, I'd be fine with one still. I'm a furious alt-tabber either way. ;)

veyron 15y ago

Cheap way to expand screen real estate. I find myself diffing 3 files a lot. And these files are 80 characters fixed-width. So to have the three window diff in vim means I would need at least 3 * 80 + 2 = 242 character width, and that doesn't fit on most monitors. (Nowadays I use a 27" iMac, which runs 2560x1440 natively, so I really dont need [or use] a second monitor, but the argument still applies)

adelevie 15y ago

Don't buy a second monitor until you feel you need one.

dazzer 15y ago

When you maximise a window, it takes up the entire screen. In the case of multiple monitors, it takes up the entire screen of the current monitor it is currently displayed in. Multiple monitors are therefore a hardware method of window management without having to manually resize them. In Windows 7 you can now dock windows to the left or right. This has worked really well for me on a single 24'' at 1900x1200 resolution. In the past this was not possible out of the box.

bartonfink 15y ago

I prefer having virtual desktops with customizable keyboard shortcuts to multiple monitors.